Thursday, November 10, 2011

The Truth About America (Part 3) America Has Changed

America Has Changed

America has changed. Many are very disturbed about the change. Some fail to realize that all change isn't good. Ellen Glasgow said, "All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward." The change we envisioned that was promised to us several years ago is not the change that we actually perceive. The truth about America is that we seem unwilling to endure the necessary pain to make beneficial changes that will save us and even cause us to prosper. I find this quote from Euripides to be quite profound, "Do not consider painful what is good for you."

Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford starred in a Romantic film in 1973 entitled "The Way We Were". Two people involved in a wonderful relationship but as the years passed by they allowed their political views and persuasions to drive them apart. Many Americans are longing for the way we were, before we were so polarized politically, socially and economically.

Our leaders from an earlier age were men who believed that God 'governed in the affairs of men.' Consider the faces on Mt. Rushmore:

George Washington strongly declared, “I believe it is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.
Thomas Jefferson, though he claimed to be skeptical proclaimed, “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
Teddy Roosevelt spoke sincerely when he said, “After a week of perplexing problems…it does so rest my soul to come into the house of The Lord and to sing and mean it, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty… (It is my) great joy and glory that in occupying an exalted position in the nation, I am enabled, to preach the practical moralities of the Bible to my fellow-countrymen and to hold up Christ as the hope and Savior of the world.”
Abraham Lincoln certainly was overwhelmed trying to hold a divided country together. In one of his more desperate moments he solemnly acknowledged, “Unless the great God who assisted (Washington) shall be with me and aid me, I must fail; but if the same Omniscient Mind and Mighty Arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support me, I shall not fail…Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now.”
This part of history can never be rewritten. Our fathers believed in God, the great Creator of the universe. Their strong beliefs are plastered on our public buildings in the nation's capital. Our early documents are saturated with their proclamations of a Divine Protector and Provider.

Not only did they believe in a Sovereign God, they believe in the Bible and expressed often their need to draw comfort from its pages.
Abe Lincoln said, “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.”
Robert E. Lee was very concerned for the souls of men. He might rather win men to Christ than win battles. He made sure every man in his army had a Bible. “In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.”
Stonewall Jackson gave his men three books: a dictionary, a book of Napoleon Bonaparte and a Bible. “I have given you a dictionary so you will learn how to talk. I have given you a book of Napoleon Bonaparte so you’ll learn how to fight. I have given you a Bible so you will learn how to live.”
These great men considered the Bible “a most remarkable book. It has outlived all of its critics, survived centuries of prohibition and has changed countless lives for the better. It has a power that no other book has. It has made thieves to be honest, cheaters faithful and drunkards sober. It has transformed warring savages into upright and peace-loving people. No wonder it continues to be the best seller of all time, in spite of numerous authorities and governments who have tried to ban it and the godless people who have burned and destroyed it. Many Christians have given their lives to protect and preserve it. Why has this ancient book had such an impact on the world, because the Bible is the very World of God.” – Shawn Boonstra, The Sword of the Spirit.
We should thank God every day for our founders who laid a strong and firm foundation for a God-fearing country. But people are sensing something wrong. There are cracks forming. There is a shift taking place. These very foundations have been shaken.
Some in our government are attempting to remove all restrictions on same-sex marriages and abortion. They have consciously refused to protect our borders from illegal immigration. They have foolishly spent tomorrow’s money today and enslaved our children and grandchildren with trillions of dollars in debt. Having been cuffed with political correctness they have become powerless.
The queasy felling Americans are feeling about their country is causing them to as questions: Is America in decline? Will America collapse?
This question is such a sensitive and important question I want to answer it from the Word of God.
“The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:17) I want to declare with certainty to you that not only is the United States going to be destroyed, the world is going to be destroyed.
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” (2 Peter 3:10)
Please don't feel despair. If you are a child of God you will live forever in a " new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away…” (Revelation 21:1)
God is going to destroy it along with all its corruption and he is going to replace it with something our small, depraved minds cannot even comprehend.

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.